4 ms·

It's quite interesting that Jack Dorsey simultaneously urges people to disconnect and find themselves, and also operates a platform designed to keep people plug

It's quite interesting that Jack Dorsey simultaneously urges people to disconnect and find themselves, and also operates a platform designed to keep people plugged in and lost. It reminds me of Huxley's systems of control.

dang 7y ago
You could probably make the same criticism of us and HN.
- lidHanteyk 7y ago
  Sure. This is part of why I don't like establishing an identity on HN: it's antithetical to any kind of earnest conversation. As soon as I worry about my identity, I stop worrying about my content, but instead worry about what my content and identity say about each other. This is also why the Prime Directive is so important. At some level, discussion is a performance, and the terms and conditions which dictate the form and substance of the performance are always present in everybody's mind. It's important that we allow ourselves to be present in the posting, as if we were players upon the stage. Let us not forget the context of the original article. Jack Dorsey could, if he truly were convinced that Twitter is unhealthy, turn off Twitter. He could, if he truly were convinced of the importance of civility in a liberal society, ban fascist loudmouth politicians from his private platform. Instead, he urges us to put down our phones and meditate occasionally, without considering uninstalling Twitter or deactivating our accounts. This is, at some level, choosing Twitter over healthy, civil society.
  - dang 7y ago
    Hmm, but the HN guidelines ask you to use a consistent username. Obviously it needn't be tied to your real-world identity. But HN is a community and random posts don't form a community—people do. So users here need to have some persistent identity for others to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames, and therefore no community, at all. That would be an entirely different kind of forum. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=by:dang%20community%20identity https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
- ykevinator 7y ago
  True but we're not trying to profit off people's loneliness.
  - whenchamenia 7y ago
    Only their desire for VC money, even if that is an obvious side effect, so it's cool. ;)
    - dang 7y ago
      I wouldn't say that's where the problems with HN are. Most intellectual curiosity here is outside the pull of VC. From my perspective the issue has more to do with addiction to content and lack of real-world connection.
  - dang 7y ago
    Probably everyone tells themselves that.

dang 7y ago

You could probably make the same criticism of us and HN.

lidHanteyk 7y ago
Sure. This is part of why I don't like establishing an identity on HN: it's antithetical to any kind of earnest conversation. As soon as I worry about my identity, I stop worrying about my content, but instead worry about what my content and identity say about each other. This is also why the Prime Directive is so important. At some level, discussion is a performance, and the terms and conditions which dictate the form and substance of the performance are always present in everybody's mind. It's important that we allow ourselves to be present in the posting, as if we were players upon the stage. Let us not forget the context of the original article. Jack Dorsey could, if he truly were convinced that Twitter is unhealthy, turn off Twitter. He could, if he truly were convinced of the importance of civility in a liberal society, ban fascist loudmouth politicians from his private platform. Instead, he urges us to put down our phones and meditate occasionally, without considering uninstalling Twitter or deactivating our accounts. This is, at some level, choosing Twitter over healthy, civil society.
- dang 7y ago
  Hmm, but the HN guidelines ask you to use a consistent username. Obviously it needn't be tied to your real-world identity. But HN is a community and random posts don't form a community—people do. So users here need to have some persistent identity for others to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames, and therefore no community, at all. That would be an entirely different kind of forum. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=by:dang%20community%20identity https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
ykevinator 7y ago
True but we're not trying to profit off people's loneliness.
- whenchamenia 7y ago
  Only their desire for VC money, even if that is an obvious side effect, so it's cool. ;)
  - dang 7y ago
    I wouldn't say that's where the problems with HN are. Most intellectual curiosity here is outside the pull of VC. From my perspective the issue has more to do with addiction to content and lack of real-world connection.
- dang 7y ago
  Probably everyone tells themselves that.